


Reckon the Remnants

by CharacteristicallyMinor



Category: The Bridge (Podcast)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-03-10 01:32:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18928606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharacteristicallyMinor/pseuds/CharacteristicallyMinor
Summary: Yvette Breckenridge explores Watchtower 10, which has been abandoned since the whole crew disappeared.





	Reckon the Remnants

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Going Invisible 2" by the Mountain Goats.

Alright, this is Yvette Breckenridge. This is one of my first times debunking since I, uh, took a few years off. I’m at Watchtower 10. At the start, Watchtower 10 was no different from the other Watchtowers, but a few years ago the whole crew vanished under mysterious circumstances. Which, in all honestly, still isn’t that unusual for a Watchtower. People go on the Bridge to escape from the mainland, and, well, that doesn’t always make for the most reliable employees.

Anyways, nobody really goes out on the Bridge any more, so there haven’t been reports of any suspicious activity. For that matter, it took a while before anybody noticed the Watchtower was empty. It’s not like there was anyone left to report their disappearance.

So yeah, this Watchtower doesn’t even have reported sightings of paranormal activity, since nobody’s been around it for year. But the Bridge has enough unexplained disappearances that people always get excited when another one happens, like it’s evidence of some grand supernatural conspiracy.

I’m at the front entrance. It’s pretty plain, like most of the Watchtowers. They weren’t really meant to regularly have guests. There are some big flower pots with big dead flowery bushes in them. It was probably pretty at one point, I guess, but now it’s just kind of depressing. 

And I’m in the Watchtower itself. This building was definitely designed by someone who was never going to personally have to live in it. Maybe my standards are too high, since I spend a lot of time in grand old haunted houses, but it just seems kind of industrial. I’m not saying I expected flying buttresses, but a little wallpaper wouldn’t kill them. 

Alright, so the first room is a greenhouse. Why there’s a greenhouse in a Watchtower, I don’t know. But here it is. The most interesting thing here is a life-size statue of a woman. I guess this is meant to be mimicking a fancy outside garden, but it was too dangerous to leave it in the open air with all the storms. Not sure why they felt it was a necessary expense, but that’s practically the Bridge motto. I’m no accountant, but I’m pretty sure whoever deals with the finances for the Bridge isn’t either.

And I’m in the kitchen. Still pretty generic, clearly meant to just be functional, and… huh. There’s a faint stain on the wall. Could be blood, could be red wine or pasta sauce. Somebody tried to get the stain out, but they didn’t quite succeed. I know some of you out there are thinking that I’ve definitely stumbled across a murder mystery with an accompanying ghost. Hate to disappoint you, but suspicious stains in an old kitchen do not a haunted house make. If they did, my first apartment would have had about seven ghosts, but I promise you it was just a crappy apartment.

“Construction on the Transcontinental Bridge is moving along swimmingly, and soon you’ll be able to see just how beau-beau-beau-“

Okay, so someone’s having fun with the intercom system. Great. For those of you who don’t recognize it, that’s the voice of the woman who did most of the Bridge advertisements over the years. I promise you, she hasn’t chosen this specific Watchtower as her final resting place. I’m not even sure she’s dead. 

Anyways, I’m declaring this kitchen free of ghosts. Shocking. Moving on, now I’m in what appears to be crew quarters. Bedrooms and bathrooms. At a glance, they all look pretty identical and empty. I suppose I could pause to look through the drawers or something, but if there’s a ghost hiding in a dresser then it’s a pretty pathetic ghost.

Hear that, ghosts? You’re wimps! Fight me!

And, there’s no response. There never is. Guess some things never change.

“If you’re worried about what to do when the storm comes, just look up at the sky!”

Give it up for my new cohost, who’s advertising Watchtowers while we’re inside a Watchtower. If I hadn’t gotten the message yet, this definitely did the trick. 

It’s nice and sunny out today anyways, so I’m not particularly worried about storms.

Ooh, I think I’ve found some sort of first aid station. It’s a pretty serious set-up, with hospital beds and everything. Can’t imagine they got that much use out of it, since the Watchtowers didn’t have doctors on the staff. Although they probably had some first aid training? Who knows. 

If you were listening along at home while playing some form of drinking game or haunted house bingo, you’re in luck. I’ve found the piano, a haunted house staple. Why is there a piano in a Watchtower, you might ask? Your guess is as good as mine. It’s in what looks like a kind of rec room for the staff. I guess the Bridge founders were big on music?

You know, one of these days I’m going to learn how to play something short on the piano, and then you’ll get to hear me play it on every dusty, out-of-tune piano I find during my expeditions. I’ve been meaning to do it for ages, although you’re probably lucky I haven’t so you don’t have to listen to it. 

“We value success above all else. Failure is not an option.”

Thank you for that, intercom lady. Good to know you have high standards for this completely deserted watchtower.

Anyways, going on up to the second floor. And here we have… more bedrooms. Great. Still not checking for dresser ghosts. 

And—ooh, awesome. I’ve found the room with the radio equipment. I bet this is where the intercom controls are. Let me try—

“Nightmares are full of the things you fear most. A shadow figure lurking just behind you. Laughter that—”

Okay, so maybe that was the wrong button. I have no clue who that man is, but he can kindly stay quiet for the rest of the---

“This is a success story. They built it, and people did come. We’ve been getting some calls, lately. Or, one call—” 

Nope, that’s not the right button either. 

“Things had already been… unusual out here on The Bridge. For a while. The Transcontinental Hotel had vanished. Watchtowers kept getting shut down and—”

Alright, so maybe I should just stop touching things and leave it be. 

Anyways, moving on up to level three. This level’s extra dusty, so I think it wasn’t used that much even when the Watchtower wasn’t abandoned. It looks like it was used for storage? I know some of you at home are yelling that this is clearly where the ghosts are, since it’s extra abandoned, but it’s not even creepy. It’s just empty. 

Going on up to the top level. This has the lighthouse-type light and the wiring for that. The floor does not look particularly safe, honestly, so I’m just going to go back down, since I’d rather not break my neck.

I’ve gone through all the above-ground levels, but I haven’t been in the basement yet. I’m heading back down to do that now. 

Alright, so the basement is where the old cars are stored. It’s kind of set up like a parking garage, in that you can drive down from the main entrance to the basement on a ramp. Now, this is probably the creepiest part of the Watchtower, but that’s entirely because parking garages are inherently creepy. Any story beginning with “the woman was walking alone in a parking garage” is pretty much guaranteed to not end well. 

But anyways, there are no ghosts down here. Just some really crappy, dusty old cars. 

And that ends my Watchtower 10 walkthrough. I can firmly guarantee that this Watchtower has no signs of paranormal activity. Remember: just because it’s creepy, doesn’t mean it’s haunted. This is Yvette Breckenridge, signing off.

*tape recorder clicks off.*

*different tape recorder clicks on*

Alright, this is Yvette, reporting in. I’m in submare 1 of Watchtower 10. Nothing of interest in any of the above levels, although I recorded my walkthrough for my actual job. 

So far, the Watchtower seems to well and truly be empty. Every room I went in was covered in dust. The intercom occasionally played an old recording, but that seems like a genuine glitch. Unless someone set it up to ward off intruders?

When I tried turning the intercom off, I heard a few old recordings of the crew. It was nice, hearing their voices again. Don’t worry, I made sure to act clueless.

Anyways, I’m heading down to the archives. I’m going to make sure the whole building’s clear before I do the digging you asked me to do. I’m sure it’s abandoned, but it never hurts to be careful. You know what happened the last time I didn’t check that a building was empty.

It's funny, I still keep expecting to see her here. I know they’re dead, I’ve seen pictures of the aftermath. It’s just… this place doesn’t look like four people died here. 

I should know better. Almost every place I go for my day job is a former murder scene.

Anyways, no signs of life in the archives. Going down to submare 3.

I see what you mean when you warned me about the stairs. Looks like they sent in a cleaning crew, but I can still see the marks. 

Those scratches—no, I’m not going to think about it. 

Changing the topic, you didn’t warn me about just how big and disorganized the archives are. I’m going to have a hell of a time finding anything in there.

Okay, I’m at the door.

*Muffled scream, sound of tape recorder being dropped*

[End of transcription. Note: Tape recorders were found in the back corner of drawer in one of the upstairs bedrooms of Watchtower 10. No other clues as to Breckenridge’s whereabouts were present; the only other item in the drawer was a blank piece of paper that had been folded into an origami swan. No hidden messages could be found on the paper.]


End file.
